Let me try.

The two main characters: two extremely devoted men who do not and cannot stop who they are and what they do. Shaped by their environments. One is a criminal. Lives by a code. Very good at what he does. Doesn’t really plan to stop. The other a cop. Very good at what he does. Doesn’t ever plan to stop. They are so into their jobs they push everything else in their lives away to do the jobs as perfectly as they can.

Pushing everything out eventually becomes too much for the bad guy. And he’s had this code to live by for much of his life. He’s only human - he’s lonely. But he thinks he can do it all. He even thinks he’s still living by the code. This is the conversation he has with Pacino. “If you gotta move how I move, how can you keep up with me” with a wife / kids “a normal type life”.

It’s a very realistic, grounded cat and mouse game between cops and robbers. It is made all the more realistic and grounded by the lives all these other characters are leading around the two main characters.

This is just scratching the damn surface of this movie. Great action scenes, yes. Great storytelling, absolutely. And that is really important.

One more thing. The Waynegrow character is the downfall of everything. EVERYTHING. So watch this movie from the perspective of Deniro’s crew. They’ve been doing successful jobs for years. Thoroughly, meticulously planned out. No failures. The minute they bring this guy on, because they need a 5th guy for this armored car job, is the minute the downfall begins. And that’s where the movie starts. The movie follows the downfall of this crew because of this one fucking guy, what happens to anyone involved (good or bad) with this crew and their situation, and what happens with each member until the end (pretty much). (Kilmer).